Switch mechanism.



A. WENDELBURG.

SWITCH MECHANISM.-

APPLICATION mm APR.20. 1915.

Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

COLUMBIA PLANOORAI'H co. WASHINGTON. D, c.

UN 1T snare ATENT @FFT.

ALEX WENDELBURG', OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A$SIGNOR T0 PITTSBURGH ELECTRIC TOOL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION 0F PENNSYLVANIA.

SWITCH IVLEGHANISM.

To all whom it may concern 1 Be it known that I, ALEX WENDELBURG, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Switch Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to electrical switch mechanism, and more particularly to circuit controlling means suitablefor use with electric hammers of a type adapted for use in chipping, calking, riveting, cutting and other work requiring a rapid succession of blows upon a'suitable tool. Such hammers may have a plurality of oppositely wound coils through which current is passed alternately to cause reciprocation of a magnetizable core which is movable back and forth through the coils, and is adapted to deliver blows in rapid succession on a tool or tool holder, as disclosed more at length in my copending application, Ser. No. 788,121, filed September 4:, 1913, of which the present application is in part a continuation.

The switch arrangement here disclosed and claimed permits the use of heavy currents in the hammer without destructive sparking at the switch, and with long life and satisfactory operation of the system as a whole. 7

The invention also provides for compact arrangement of the moving elements and their associated parts, and mechanism is provided for controlling the switch from the hammer handle so that the hammer can be thrown into and out of action while in the hands of the operator, even though it may be at some distance from the switch.

Other objects and advantages of this in vention will be specifically referred to hereinafter, it being understood that changes in form, proportion and details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantagesthereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the switch indicating somewhat diagrammatically the hammer and associated Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. April 20, 1915.

Patented J an. 11, 15918.

Serial No. 22,554.

mechanism for operating the switch; Fig. 2 1s a front elevation of the switch; and Fig. 3 1s a transverse section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, the switch is shown mounted on a metal base 1 and comprises a pair of brackets 2 and 3 screwed to an insulating block at suitably secured to the metal base 1 as by means of a fiber shelf 5. The tops of brackets 2 and 3 are shaped to serve as bearings for a horizontal rock shaft 6, on the outer end of which, at the side of bracket 3, is a segmental insulating disk 7, about the curved periphery of which is wrapped a flexible metal strip 8 which is attached to the lower front corner of the disk by means of a screw 8, and has its upper end permanently attached to a horizontal actuating rod 9 supported on base 1 in a bearing 10. hen this red 9 is pulled, the flexible metal strip 8 unwinds from the segmental disk, thereby rotating it forward.

Between brackets 2 and 3 and pivotally mounted on shaft 6 is a second segmental disk 11 in the form of a quadrant, which is rigidly secured to disk 7 as by means of a ransverse screw 12 (Fig. 3) with an interposed bushing 13 rigidly connecting the parts together so that they must swing in unison and act virtually. as a single piece. The lower edge of disk 11 is faced with a metal blade 14, the front end of which is shaped to form a finger 15 for a purpose hereinafter set forth. A helically coiled spring 16 is secured to blade 14 and to the insulating block 4, and serves to retard forward swinging movement of disks 11 and 7. There is also mounted on shaft 6 and preferably pinned thereto, a segmental knife blade 17, the shaft encircling portion of which is received within a slot in disk 11, and the rear edge 18 of which abuts against the front face of disk 11, as shown in Fig. 1. The upper edge of this metal disk is notched to receive a coiled spring 19 which connects the metal disk with the fiber disk 11. This spring is necessarily weaker than spring 16.

Two yielding contact blades 20 and 21 are mounted on insulating block 4-, and are adapted to receive between them the swinging metal blade 17, and the latter serves to bridge the gap between the blades and com-' plete connection between the conductors 22 and 23 connected thereto, respectively.

A hammer with which this switch can be advantageously used is shown in Fig. 1 as comprising coils 21 and 25 provided with a neutral point permanently connected to conductor 22. The other ends of the coils are connected respectively with conductors 26 and 27, which lead to the terminals of a suitable make and break device not shown herein.

In the handle of the hammer is a digitally operated plunger 28 connected to a cord or cable 29, which together with the electrical conductors for the hammer winding, passes from the hammer through a bracket 30 and is mechanically connected through a turn buckle 81 to the end of actuating rod 9.

lVith the apparatus arranged as above described, the operation is as follows: To start the hammer into action, the operator pushes with his thumb on plunger 28, thereby pulling on cord 29 and actuating rod 9 and thus unwinding strip 8 from its segmental disk and causing that disk and its associated segment 11 to rock forward about the axis of shaft 6 and against the opposition of coiled spring 16. The forward movement of disk 11 causes a corresponding rotation of the metal blade 17, and as soon as this passes between the wearing faces of the yielding contact blades 20 and 21, the circuit through the neutral conductor of the hammer will be established and the hammer will start into action with its magnetizable plunger drawn alternately back and forth under the magnetizing action of coils 21 and 25 when these coils are successively magnetized by current delivered to conductors 26 and 27 through a suitable make and break device. WVhen the operation of the hammer is to be stopped, the operator releases plunger 28 and spring 16 then begins retraction of the insulating disks. Owing to the relative weakness of spring 19 and the friction between metal blade 17 and the yielding contact blades 20 and 21, blade 17 re mains stationary and spring 19 stretches until spring 16 has contracted far enough to bring finger 15 into engagement with the front edge of the metal blade 17. Thereafter the further contraction of spring 16 causes the positive movement of disk 17 outward from between the contact blades 20 and 21, until finally, when the friction is low enough, spring 19 snaps disk 17 out of contact and interrupts the circuit at the contact blades 20 and 21. The quick break thus effected is of substantial advantage in preventing fusing when heavy current is being handled. If desired, the yielding blades 20 and 21 may be faced with carbon blocks 20 and 21 to insure good frictional engagement with metal blades 17 and to permit ready renewal of the wearing surfaces. The wiping action of blade 17 keeps the contacting surfaces clean.

I claim:

1. A switch comprising contact blades, a rotatable spring-retardeddisk, a'bla-de m'ov-- able between said contact blades and a spring connecting said disk to said movable blade.

2. A switch comprising contact blades, a rotatable disk, a spring for retarding the forward swing of said disk, a blade movable between said contact blades, and a second and weaker spring connecting said movable blade to said disk.

3. A switch comprising contact blades, a rotatable spring-retarded disk, a blade movable between said contact blades, a spring connecting said movable blade to said disk and a linger on said disk positioned to positively move said movable blade from between said contact blades.

4. A switch comprising contact blades, a rotatable spring-retarded disk, a blade movable between said contact blades, a spring connecting said disk to said movable blade, a flexible strap connected to said disk and means for pulling said strap to rotate said disk, substantially as described.

5. A switch comprising yielding contact blades, a segmental metal blade movable between said contact blades to establish electrical connection therebetween, a rotatable disk for moving said segmental blade forward, aspring connected to retard the forward movement of said disk, and a second and weaker spring connecting said segmental blade to said disk to effect a quick break when the electrical connection is interrupted. I

6. The combination of a stationary yielding contact blade, a pivotally mounted segmental blade, a segmental disk for moving said segmental blade into engagement with the stationary blade, a retracting spring for said segmental disk, a second spring connecting saiddisk to said segmental blade, and a finger on said disk movable against said segmental blade to force it out of engagement with said stationary contact blade.

7. The combination of a stationary yielding contact blade, a pivotally mounted segmental blade, a pivotally mounted segmental disk movable forward to bring said blades into contact, a retarding spring for said segmental disk, a second spring connecting said disk to said segmental blade, a second disk mounted to rotate with said segmental disk, a flexible strap on said second disk, and means for pulling said strap to rotate said disk and bring said blades into engagement, substantially as described.

8. In a switch mechanism, the combination of a pair of brackets, a shaft carried thereby, a pair of disks carried by said shaft,

a flexible strap on one of said disks, a pullblade to one of said disks to give a quick 10 rod connected to said strap to unwind it break when the blades are to be moved out from the disk when the disk is to be rotated of contact, and a finger on one of said disks forward, a pair of yielding contact blades, movable between said yielding blades and a segmental metal blade mounted to swing into engagement with said segmental blade between said yielding blades and frictionally to move the same, substantially as described. 15

engaged thereby, a spring retarding the for- In testimony whereof I affiX my signature. Ward movement of said disks, a second and weaker spring connecting said segmental ALEX WENDELBURG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

